In my opinion, the Newer Bachmann F-units (technically, F9, I think, but virtually identical to an F7) are pretty good, especially for the money, and they can be had with DCC or DCC and sound on board from the factory.  I believe I have seen the offered new, with DCC, for as low as about $35-50.  Athearn also makes the old standby F7, and if you don't mind doing a little work isolating the motor it makes a very reliable and powerful (if somewhat noisy) locomotive.

I have both of these, and I would not hesitate to run more.

There are other options, if you can find them.  Believe it or not, I have a Model Power Metal Trains F7 which looks decent, runs well, and is DCC ready.  I bought it for a song because it had damaged steps.  And if you're willing to accept an F3, it's hard to beat the Proto1000 units.  I'm not sure what they're selling for new these days, but even a used one ought to work for you.  These have one of the best mechanism of any inexpensive HO F-unit I've ever seen, and the bodies are well done.  Shaving off a few cast-on details and replacing them with separate parts gives one a beautiful model.

When it comes to inexpensive F-units, you have plenty of options!  About the only things I would NOT consider would be any of the pancake motored models from Bachmann, Life-Like, or Tyco, or any of the really old models, such as Varney.  They're not lost causes, but they're not beginner's projects, and end up being a lot more trouble that they're worth unless you just love that particular model for some reason.

Gerry,

You have two identical sets of posts going. It might better if you had found your old post and added a new comment. The post would then go back to the top. That way the information would be in one thread. I believe that this would be better for the other readers, I hope you get the information you are looking for.

Regards, John *****************************

 It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be fun. >>> Dave_skiloff